Railway-car truck



(NoModeL) x W. T. BROWNE. Railway Car Truck.

No. 235,852. Patented Dec. 28,1880.

VV fln as S as (awn L NHPETERS, PMOTO-LRHOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON. D. c.

UNITED TATES PATENT tribe.

WILLIAM T. BROWNE, OF STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA.

RAILWAY-CAR TRUCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 235,852, dated December28, 1880.

Application filed June 17, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. BROWNE of Stockton, in the county of SanJoaquin and State of California, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Railway Car Trucks; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to an improvement upon the railway-car truck forwhich Letters Patent No. 225,741 were issued to me on the 23d day ofMarch, 1880. In that arrangement a swiveling supplemental truck wasmounted under each end of a main-truck frame, the swiveling point beinglocated directly above the middle of the axle of each supplementaltruck. The main frame, which supported the weight of the car, was borneupon side bars, called equalizing-bars, the ends of which rested uponthe journal-boxes, while the journal-boxes had a free verticalmovementin the pedestals of the supplemental trucks, thus leaving thesupplemental trucks and axles free to be turned a limited distance ineither direction by the bearing and pressure of the con eshaped tread ofthe wheels upon and against the rails of the track, so that the wheelswould automatically adj ust themselves upon the rails according to theline or sinuosities of the track.

I have discovered two defects in the construction of the said car-truck,as described and represented in my former patent. The first defect wasin the arrangement of the maintruck frame above the supplemental trucks,wherebythe height of the car from the ground was objectionablyincreased,and the other was that the pivotal point, about which the supplementaltrucks swiveled, was directly in line with the bearing points of thewheels on the tracks, so that the swiveling operation was not assensitive as it ought to be. My presentinvention remedies these defectsby shortening the maintruck frame and dropping it between the twosupplemental trucks, so that all these frames will be on the same level;also, in hinging the supplemental trucks to the mainframe in a line withthe middle of the axles, all as hereinafter more fully described.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation ofmy improved truck. Fig. 2 is-a top view, partly in detail. Fig. 3 is anenlarged view of one of the axles, its boxes, and the end of one of theequalizingbars.

Let A A represent the frames of the swiveling trucks. Each of theseframes carries an axle, B, with its wheels 0, in slotted pedestals D, asdescribed in my former patent.

Instead of making the main frame as long as the car-truck and mountingit above the supplemental trucks, as heretofore, I make a short mainframe, E, which will fit in between the two supplemental frames A A, andI support this short frame from the equalizing-bars F F in the samemanner that I supported the longframe. This brings the upper sides ofthe I three frames on a level, so that the car is lowered the thicknessof the main frame. I then couple the middle of each truck-frame with themiddle of the main frame by a suitable connection that will let thesupplemental frames swivel horizontally.

In the present instance I have represented a plate, g, secured upon thetop and bottom of the meeting-timber of each frame, each of which plateshas a projecting extension, h, at its middle. This extension projectsout from the timbers a short distance, and has a hole in it, so thatwhen the frames are in position the extensions will overlap each other,so that a pin or bolt, '5, can be passed. down through the holes, andthus couple the frames together.

.The extensions h are long'enough to separate the m eetin g-timbersslightly, so that the frames of the swiveling truck can movehorizontally far enough to accommodate the wheels and axles on theshortest practical curves; or, in other words, the arrangement providesa flexible truck that will accommodate itself to the shortest curves. Inthis case I do not require any independent stops for limiting thehorizontal motion of the trucks, as the ends of the frames serve asstops. The weight of the car will be supported on the middle or mainframe, E, equalizing-bars F, and anti-friction bearings on theaxle-boxes, leaving the truck-frames A free to swivel horizontally. Thecoupling or joint by which the swiveling frames are connected with themain or central frame is thus brought nearer the center of the mainframe and. out of line with the bearing-points of the wheels on thetrack, so that I secure the additional advantage of utilizing thepressure of the flanges of the wheel against the inside of the rail toadjust the Wheels to the proper position to follow the track, theposition of the pivot or coupling rendering the swivel-frames sensitiveto slight lateral pressure on the wheels.

The cone shape of the Wheels will be a decided factor in adjusting theswivel-frames on the track, as described in my former patent, but thepressure of the flanges against the rails acting on the pivot orcoupling will render the action positive and quick when the Wheelsstrike a curve.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, 1s-

In a car-truck, the combination, with the supplemental truck-frames A A,having the journal-boxes D, provided with curved ways, between whichmove bearings, and equalizingbars F, with their ends resting and securedupon said bearings, of the intermediate frame, E, mounted upon springssupported upon the bars F, and having at each end plates with perforatedextensions or projections pinned or bolted to perforated extensions onsimilar plates of the truck-frames, substantially as and for the purposeset forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal.

WILLIAM T. BROWNE.

, Witnesses:

J N0. H. WEBSTER, ALFRED B. TREADWELL.

